Luke ran after Alssonus, he still had an awkward gate but he was hardly breathing hard at all. Years of rowing long distances had left him with great endurance and monsterous strength. The brush and brambles clawed at his naked flesh but he hardly noticed it. It was nothing compared with Smilsu's whip, or cat of nine tails. His fear of Skarnu gave him driving force, he kept his pace up.

Celia slid down the embankment after the others. Fortuna was still with them, evidently. That was good. As she tumbled to the bottom, she caught a glimpse of something in the brush. What was that? A wolf? Then she heard growling, and looked up in time to see a pack of the creatures up at the top of the ravine. They didn't seem to be very pleased. They might even be ill. But they were also between the pirates and four of them, and seemed to be facing the pirates.

Callis Scampered pleasantly along with the others, though he had his fair share of stumbling and tripping. He was obviously not in the least worried that they were bieng chased by potentially hostile people, and upon the sight of the red-sailed ships at the beach, he Spoke faintly, "Amazing, Look at those ships!" He wasnt one for boat-travel, of course, all those days on hard, wooden floorboards with no grass beneath his feet was a bit nauseating to him, but he could at least admire the structural side of them. Of course, whilst staring at these, he failed to notice the embankment, and promptly stumbled as he found no more footing, and plummeted downwards, rolling down ungracefully to land at the bottom. He completely missed sighting the wolves, but got back up to his feet, dusted himself off, and looked around to see where the others were, slightly disoriented.

Upon the beach, Alssonus beheld a pile of greasy-looking corpses, the bodies of sellswords or brigands like the ones that he had tangled with above. Standing over the bodies were yet more of the bearded warriors. It seemed that a battle had occured, for even now, the mail-wearing barbarians were wiping blood from their blades and kicking stenchous bodies from the surf into the pile.The adventurer, with fire in his eyes, bellowed like a bear and charged forward, smiting the skull of one of the bearded ones with his sword.The other pirates backed away and prepared for battle.But then the beach rang with a sudden explosion of sound, as the entirety of the great stone fang on the cliffs above, including, Alssonus noted, windows carved into it, was limned with lurid green flames, making the sun seem pale for a moment. Then the fires were gone."Black Heart of Julius!" he swore in amazement, as the Radothites made a curious, x-shaped sign against evil with their fingers.

Rannu looked shocked at the stange magic fire, he took a step backwards then began to twirl the chain on his righthand in a circle. It made a whispering noise each time it passed his ear. The broken manacle on the end would leave a nasty mark whoever attacked.

Callis, of course, did not seem shocked at all at the great spurt of emerald flames, but rather seemed to grow in excitement. He nudged Celia lightly with his elbow, "Did you see that!?" Of course, that question could be considered void, as it was not the most unnoticable occurance. He shifted his gaze back to the group of pirates, though, and without stopping to ponder, He whipped out a single rusty, though balanced dagger from behind the folds of his clothing. The way he saw it was: If they can get rid of these people quickly, they can go and investigate that strange fire sooner. Callis gave a deft flick of his wrist to send that dagger sailing accurately, towards the stomach of the nearest foe. Dispite his clumsy appearance and actions, he seemed quite skilled in the art of throwing knives.

Celia tightened her grip on her staff. She had indeed seen the emerald flames, and they made her curious. Still, the raiders needed to be dealt with first. She knew very well that it was entirely possible to trust too much to luck, and even a priestess of Fortuna could have luck turn against her.But they still had the wolf pack to contend with. The wolves leapt at the barbarians.

Alssonus took advantage of the snapping wolve's attack, stoving in the skull of the nearest pirate with his blade.Bellowing, he leapt forward into the conflict, laying about with sword and fist until he stood, panting, over the bodies of two men and a wolf. His face, arms, and chest were laced with blood, and his chestnut hair was sticky with it.Unfortunately, it seemed that wolves were not picky about their prey. Those lupes remaining formed a tight hemisphere around Alssonus, snarling and creeping forward."Your goddess's luck, priestess!" said Alssonus, eyeing the leading wolf.

"Fortuna takes no sides. Not even that of her priests, sometimes." Celia backed up. "If we make for the cave, we might get away from them." Maybe if she found a rock, or something, she could create a distraction.

Callis watched the battle with great intrigue, and as Alssonus skewered the first wolf, he all but applauded in excitement. As the wolves shifted forth to surround the large man, however, Callis actually appeared to pout - seemed he was jealous that the wolves were after the large man, and not him! So, as Celia searched around for rocks, Callis merely pulled out a handful of pebbles and lobbed a few at each wolf, striking their sides with a small 'thump' and a quick yelp from each canine. Due to this distraction, the wolves turned to the perpetrator, and Callis blinked once, then grinned - This was going to be fun.

Around, turned Callis, pelting off back the way the group came, his little feet pounding away - and hot at his heels were the wolves, growling and snapping at him as he led them away back into the woods - seems he had created the distraction needed, and the group could probably almost count on Callis showing up again in the near future.

Alssonus leveled his sword at the approaching beard-men, and, with a bloodcurdling scream...dashed backwards into the cave mouth.Flashing a grin at the startled pirates, he stepped through the towering cavern doorway and into a dream-world.Or it seemed a dream-world. For he stood not in a rough-hewn cavern, but in a large chamber, floored in marble, with walls of some glimmering black stone. The sconces on the walls contained fine-quality lamps, burning.Down the center of the chamber was a table of beautiful Southern mahogany, set with a feast fit for an emperor.Martinus and Celia stood, looking equally bewildered as the adventurer, in this chamber.At the very far end of the table, there sat a woman, looking languidly down at them.She said "Well met!"

Alssonus leveled his sword at the approaching beard-men, and, with a bloodcurdling scream...dashed backwards into the cave mouth.Flashing a grin at the startled pirates, he stepped through the towering cavern doorway and into a dream-world.Or it seemed a dream-world. For he stood not in a rough-hewn cavern, but in a large chamber, floored in marble, with walls of some glimmering black stone. The sconces on the walls contained fine-quality lamps, burning.Down the center of the chamber was a table of beautiful Southern mahogany, set with a feast fit for an emperor.Martinus and Celia stood, looking equally bewildered as the adventurer, in this chamber.At the very far end of the table, there sat a woman, dressed in a revealing dress of black silk, gazing languidly down at them as she sipped from a jewel-encrusted goblet.She said "Well met!" as Alssonus and the rest found themselves restrained by more women, armored in black leather and iron.

Callis, of course, had to choose this exact moment to stumble into the cave - various cuts and grazes on his arms and ankles where the wolves had attempted a nip at him before they were fortunately distracted into hunting a pirate which had been straggling along behind the rest of its group.Callis had wandered blindly through the forest, and it was pure chance that he emerged just near the cave entrance, slipping by the pirates which were debating whether or not to enter.Not bieng one to make a quiet entrance, the Halecan gave a handsome smile to the group and the women, and chirped a "Hello there" to the black-clad woman at the head of the table. His hands brushed against his sleeveless, brightly coloured garments, and he seemed not to show any worry whatsoever as a pair of these women walked up on him, restraining him too, and showed simple, raw curiousity.